Rockies power up in Giant beat down

It was one of those good-old-fashioned Coors Field days for the Rockies today, and best of all, someone forgot to tell the Giants. Corey Dickerson swatted a pair of home runs, and he was joined by Nolan Arenado and Michael McKenry. All of which led to a satisfying 9-2 rout of the San Francisco Giants and a series victory.

I think it's fair to say that Dickerson was seeing the ball well today. In his first at bat he blasted a ball into the second deck in right field to tie the game at one. In his second at bat he lifted a solo homer out to left field. His next at bats were brutally disappointing outs--that is, fly balls to dead center field that just barely stayed in the yard.

They were home runs 21 and 22 for Dickerson this year, and not in a full slate of at bats. He's gonna finish with 25 plus, I'd imagine. He's only 25 years old. He hits for average and can take a walk or two. Sure he may never be a plus defender--and that arm is brutal--but Dickerson has All Star games in his future.

Christian Bergman navigated through six innings and gave up two runs on nine hits. He didn't walk or strikeout anybody, which I guess is basically his modus operandi. Fortunately, only two of those nine were of the extra base variety (a double and a triple). So while no one would confuse the outing with vintage Roger Clemens, it was effective enough considering how well the ball was flying.

The fifth inning was where everything turned in the game. The Rockies had just fallen behind 2-1 and then made two quick outs in the bottom of the frame. But Josh Rutledge worked a tough walk and Justin Morneau slapped an opposite field base hit. A second later, Nolan jumped on an inside fastball to crank his 15th homer of the season. Dickerson followed with one of his dingers. Bam, 5-2, when it could have been 2-1 had Rutledge not extended the inning.

Speaking of awesome young players, Nolan would probably have gotten to 20 home runs this year were it not for his freak finger injury. He might still get there anyway. He definitely has All Star games in his future, because not only can he hit, but he can play a mean third base.

Rutledge had a good day. He doubled, tripled, and drove in two. Good to see him break out of his slump.

McKenry's home run was to straight-away center on a full count pitch. It was an impressive display of hitting, as he fouled off a number of tough offerings.

And as the cherry on top of the sundae, the Rockies bullpen worked three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Juan Nicasio threw two of them, and he recorded the lone Rockies strikeout of the game (I wonder how many games the Rockies have won while just striking out one batter. And how many of those were blowouts). Both relievers, Nicasio and Christian Friedrich, are busted starters, but they are definitely intriguing options for the bullpen. That's a good thing, because the 2015 Rockies are gonna need some bullpen help.

So it was a good day for the Rockies. They get the day off tomorrow, then they take on the San Diego Padres. Sure the season went down the toilet, but there are still some reasons to watch. And remember, the off season isn't very far away, so remember to count your blessings.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2014-09-03&team=Rockies&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2014-09-03&team=Rockies&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span>